Recently, semi-transparent or hybrid type liquid crystal display (LCD) devices with features of small size, light weight and low power consumption have been used for various apparatuses, such as mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). An ordinary LCD device holds a twisted nematic liquid crystal material between a pair of electrodes but utilization of a homogeneous liquid crystal material has been begun for an LCD device to improve a brightness characteristic.
A semi-transparent type LCD device with a homogeneous mode of operation applied is disclosed in Japanese Published Patent Application (Tokkai Hei) 11-242226, for instance. Such a semi-transparent type LCD device has pixels provided in transparent and reflective regions where cell gaps (i.e., thicknesses of a liquid crystal layer) are different from each other to improve light utilization efficiency. Since liquid crystal molecules are disposed in substantially the same direction in the homogeneous mode of operation so that the LCD device is simple in structure and its optical compensation is easily made by using a retardation film or the like, the LCD device driven in that mode of operation can achieve a display of images with high contrast and wide viewing angles.
As a concrete example, the transparent and reflective regions are defined by optically transparent and reflective members formed on one of the two electrodes provided for the LCD device. The reflective members reflect ambient light incident from the side of another electrode while the transparent members allow light from a rear light source to pass through. In order to make the cell gaps at the transparent and reflective regions different, the transparent portions formed on one of the substrates are lower in height than the reflective portions
Desirable light utilization efficiency requires that the cell gap in the transparent region is necessarily about twice as large as that in the reflective region. In the case, however, that a pixel pitch is less than 60 μm, it causes reverse molecular tilts to reduce an image contrast, residual images (image sticking), etc. Measures to overcome these problems have been conventionally based upon a surface vapor deposition treatment, a laser alignment forming method or the like. These technologies eventually increase production costs of LCD devices.